The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-06-09

a full treasury. That is what the great
statesman means. Is he right? Every
man who believes in God and moral
government knows that he is right. But
what say these statesmen who have
espoused the cause of Atlsnta's whisky
ring? "We cannot afford to purify the
nation at the expense of the nations
treasury. sobriety, chastity, honesty
and virtue are of less value to people,"
These are not their words, but this is
exactly what they mean. Doyou believe
them9 No, you can never do that until
your natural instincts are dead and the
last traces of Gods image have faded
from your soul. Yet this is what we are
asked to believe. This is what we are
asked to say on November 25th. Let
men who are willing to barter their man
hood say it, but God helping me I never
will. I desire the material prosperity of
my country, but let that prosperity rest
upon the solid granite of moral intelli.
gence. Let us have full treasury, but
when it is full let us be able to say,
"There is not dirty shilling in it,"
These sentiments, ne are told by GER
tain gentleman of our city, were trans
ported to this country upon the "May.
flower" If he is correct in his statement,
then, 10 my dying day will I hallow the
memory of that dear old ship. I would
not give one such man as she bore over
untraveled seas to the shores of this
Western world for a whole legion of
your modern beer suckers and whisky
bloats.
But, says the great English commoner,
"with sober population not wasting
their earnings, shall know where to OBJ
tain the revenue" He means that
virtuous, industrious and economical
people will never find it hard to raise a
revenue sufficient to defray the expenses
of the government. Is he correct? Is
it not to the material advantage of any
people to be sober and virtuous? Will
not such a people have more from which
to raise revenue than a community in
which idlers, drunkards, and deadbeats
abound? Has the God of Heaven made
us and put us into world where civil
government cannot be supported without
encouraging vice and crime? To this
hideous, hateful, damnable doctrine, we
are asked by the champions of the anti.
prohibition cause to commit ourselves.
Can we do it? No, not till our judg.
>ments have fed to british beasts and we
have lost our reason.
If these dens of vice should be closed,
and the people of Atlanta are not more
prosperous, happy and contented two
years hence than they are today, then
the Bible is not true, and God himself is
myth. Or, if there be God, and he
has made the material prosperity of
nations and communities of men to de.
pend upon the prevalence of drunken.
ress, debauchery and crime, he is mon
ster, and deserves to be hated.
The executive committee of the prohi-
bition patty is made up of men whose
yeracity is unimpeached and unimpeach-
able-men upon whose record no stain
can be found, and who would choose
death rather than dishonor. These men
have carefully and consciertiously gath.
cred from the villages, towns and cities
of our State, where prohibition has been
tried, all the information which is needed
to form a correct opinion as to the effects
of prohibition upon Atlanta's material
prosperity. After calmly weighing all
the facts which they have collected, they
are prepared, as honest, patriotic God.
fearing men, to say to this community: {:
Prohibition will not harm, but greatly
improve your material interest"
I am not surprised that the words of
Sacred Writ have been perverted to the
base purposes of whisky ring, for it has
always been favored trick of the devil
to quote scripture in defense of his do.
ings. He did that when he stood with
our Christ on the mountain. What an
answer did be receiver "Get thee be.
hind me, satan," and 80 will I say to his
modern imitators. 1t is true that Christ
made wine and drank it. 1t is true that
Paul advised Timothy to "take little
for the stomach's sake;" but it was wine
and not villianous, poisonous counter.
felt.
If the liquor traffic were limited to the
sale of such beverage there would be
no demand for prohibition; but, where
your doggery men sell one bottle of the
unadulterated juice of the grape, they
sell thousand gallons of whisky that
never saw a distillery, and that contained
poisons which lay the foundations for in.
curable diseases. With a hundred dollars
worth of poisonous chemicals there can
be made fifty barrels of just such whisky
as is sold in the average barroom of At.
lanta.
When mans brain and blood are
fred with this internal stuff he is ready
for internal deeds. Who wonders, then,
that a learned and distinguished jurist
should say, ''Nine.tenths Of the crimes
Of this country are trsceable to whisky
Would the people Of this city vote to
license gambling house? No. They
would bury beneath their bitterest ex'
ecrations the man who should dare to In
suit them with a proposition 80 base
But to. day they are asked by Goddess
whisky ring to perpetuate a traffic, in
comparison with which gambling, even
in its worst forms, is angelic innocence
Shall we grant their request2 That is
the question which we are about to de.
eide. Christian women of Atlanta, how